Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

'Here we are and I can't think from all the pills, hey
Start the car and take me home
Here we are and you're too drunk to hear a word I say'

- The Pretty Reckless, Just tonight


Chapter 7. Intern

Hinata and Sasuke sat the rest of the day in silence. It was nice to have him there; her usual unbearable thoughts and images were gone. They didn't randomly pop up when she was together with someone, and she felt so relieved she fell asleep on the floor.

She woke up in a pool of her own sweat, breathing heavily. Her body was shaking uncontrollably and Hinata was crying. Her tears fell down her cheeks and dropped on her white, dirty suit. A sniff left her mouth, and she hugged her knees. Why she was crying, she had no idea, but it was frightening her beyond normal. Fear had become a close associate, but this was new. This wasn't fear of dying or torture; this was pure horror of living. Being alive is what scared her, and she didn't understand why. It had been a dream, but she couldn't grasp it; it was so clear that one second she had woken up, but the more her brain had started working, the more vivid the dream had become. At her fifth, deep breath, the dream was completely forgot, and all that was left was a little, terrified girl.

A glance over at Sasuke relieved his sleeping form, and she sobbed loudly. So she had to be watched at all time, or the nightmares would be back. That was great, just great. Not wanting any more to do with those horrible images, Hinata started counting. Two people, four walls, one roof, one floor. It took a few rounds of counting before the shaking stopped, and she started biting her lip. Calm down, she thought to herself. I have to calm down. There is nothing there. Nothing at all. I'm alone. Just. Calm. Down.

"Hinata-san?" She jumped as Lee suddenly came into view in front of her door.

"L-L-Lee-san?" she stuttered and her hands were on her chest, trying to calm her wild beating heart. He bowed his head apologetic as he told her how sorry he was for startling her. She waved it away with her hands, smiling shyly.

"Do you want to go outside for a little? All inmates are allowed outside for a small hour every Sunday. Do you want to go?" She bobbed her head up and down quickly, and he helped her up. Her body was still aching, and sleeping on the floor hadn't exactly improved her condition. Lee noticed the difference at once; she had been terrible the morning, but now she was just down right unbearable. She was leaning so heavily on his shoulder he was practically carrying her.

"Are you sure about this, Hinata-san?" His voice was filled with worry, and she gave him a faint smile while nodding.

"I-I h-haven't b-been o-o-outside f-f-for s-some t-time. I-i r-really w-want t-to g-g-go." It took it's strain on her just to talk, so he picked her up by the back and knees. The girl blushed and stared wide eyed at him before screaming out in pain. The boy was so startled he dropped her.

"I'm so sorry," Lee said, bowing his head several times. Hinata groaned.

"I-I-it's o-o-okey," she whispered. "I-it's m-my s-shoulder." The guard understood as she directed him to what shoulder not to touch, before picking her up again. He did it slowly this time, and she tried to protest, but the boy wasn't stopping as he stormed through the hall.

"You're having problems walking," Lee explained and looked the other way. "Don't worry. I train a lot, so I'm strong. Besides, you're very light. Do you even eat?" They had swiftly moved down the corridor with him talking. It didn't take them long to reach the destination with Lee small talking. He was just as nervous as her, but it couldn't be helped. The girl would kill herself if she kept doing what she did, and he couldn't allow that.

They came through the door, and the light made her rise her hand to her face. It was so bright she had to blink several times to adjust. They were outside, in a courtyard. Inmates were standing in groups, talking and playing several games. Lee had let her down, and she stared at the light. It felt so good she almost cried.

"Baby blue!" someone cried out, and she was embraced in a hug. The blond almost crushed in his arms, and she blushed at the sudden contact.

"D-D-D-Deidara-san?" she stuttered and he leg go of her.

"Yeah, un! I've missed you, where were you? It was so boring for dinner and breakfast today, Hidan was being an asshole and Sasori kept saying these mean things about you never coming back, un." He kept ranting on and Hinata nodded to show she was listening, but she really wasn't. She didn't want to be rude to the boy, but she couldn't help her wandering gaze. The light; it was so different from the lamp's inside.

"Oy, Hinata!" Hidan called out from the other side. "Come over here." He was bouncing a basketball in his hands, and Deidara stormed over, pulling her by the wrist. It made her winch in pain, and the short run felt like a marathon. She was tying to catch their breath as they stopped in the little group.

"Do you want to- Deidara! What did you do to her, you fucking moron?" Hidan dropped the ball in his hands and hunched down beside the tired girl.

"Nothing, un! I just pulled her over here, un!"

"She's totally exhausted, what the hell happened?" He tilted his head, not really wanting to touch the girl. Affection was something new to him, and he wasn't exactly sure how to express it.

"I-i-it's n-n-not h-h-his f-f-fault," the girl stuttered and sat down on the ground. She wanted to tell them what had happened, but it was hard for her to talk. She felt so shy.

"What's with your hands?" Hidan asked, and she blushed. How was she suppose to tell them she had hurt her own hands? What would they think of her?

"I- uhm," she swallowed hard and sniffed slightly.

"Dollface," Sasori jogged over and sat down beside her. "I heard you beat the shit out of five guards upon your escape. I see it was short lived." His eyes shone with pride, and she quivered.

"Wait, what? What the fuck?" Hidan turned his attention to his arrived friend and rose his eyebrows. "She what?"

"I heard it was eight of them," Kisame answered and gave her a grin when she looked at him. Gossip sure went far in this prison. "Bit the finger of one guard, straight off it went." He demonstrated by pretending to bite something invisible and ripping it off.

"One of the guards who passed my cell said she kicked another one into a girl." Sasori wasn't making the story better. She tried to interrupt them, but they kept on twisting and turning the story worse and worse. It was just like her first day when she had asked one of the guards for a fork and knife. When Deidara claimed her her to chop one of the guards head off with just her bare hands, she had had enough.

"S-s-stop!" They turned their gaze on her, and she swallowed. There was no way she could do it. She couldn't tell them what had happened. Then when? When are you going to stand up for yourself? Do you want to be a burden the rest of your life? Useless? No, she shook her head. She wasn't going to be a burden any longer. She was going to stand up for herself.

"I-I-I." How was she going to say she had beaten herself up? Just like that. Say it just like that, the voice encouraged, and she listened. "I-I-I h-had e-e-enough o-o-of t-this p-place, s-so I-I h-h-hit t-t-the w-w-wall a-a-and t-t-the g-g-guards f-f-found m-me. T-t-they t-t-tried t-t-to c-calm m-me d-down." She bit her lip. "I-i-it s-s-scared m-me, s-so I-i f-f-fought." The crowd was silent as she told them the rest of the story, how they had chased her, how she had been caught by the guard. She left out the part about Gaara, but told them how Lee had helped her to her room and feed her. They were silent as her story came to an end.

"No fair. I wanted to feed you," Deidara complained.

"Would you just shut the fuck up, you brat! I'm so fucking tired of all your complaining," Hidan screamed out and lunged for the kid, who easily ducked out of the way.

"Bring it on, un!" Deidara challenged the albino, and they clashed in a fist fight. For some reason, it made Hinata laugh. She laughed at how they were still them, even after her story and incidence with Naruto. It felt good to laugh, so she rolled back and laughed with all her heart.

"I didn't know she could anything but whisper," Sasori said with an analyzing stare. Even with all the filth in her face, she was still beautiful. "Such a pretty doll," he muttered to himself and his brain started working on how he was going to make her his project. She was going to be his masterpiece.

Itachi was standing in the shadows, staring at the bunch of kids playing. "Oh, she can do much more than whisper. Much more."


The blond nurse massaged her temples. A migraine was growing, and her knitted eyebrows and stressed mode wasn't helping it at all. How had it turned out like this? She peeked down on the paper with one eye, before groaning. The piece of damn paper was still there, letters shining at her. Rubbing her face with her pals didn't help, and she slammed her head against the wooden desk. The pain inside her brain was instantly gone, but a new pain bothered her. It didn't matter much; outside pain was always more pleasant than that which came from the inside. She should know; she worked with this kind of thing.

Her hand moved around on the side of her desk, bumping into the furniture before finding what she was looking for. She gripped at the lowest drawer and opened it. There was only one object there, and she took it up. The other hand turned the cork of the flask and she moved it around a little. It wasn't much left. Not bothering to hide it, she gulped down the whole bottle and threw it back inside. She would take it home when work was over, and replace it with a new one. A fuller one.

"Tsunade-sama!" the woman named Shizune complained, but she just gave her a hard stare. It silenced whatever protest was on the way, and the nurse drew a shaky breath. She placed her forehead in her palm and looked down on the paper once again. Eyes shuffled softly over the report, but she wasn't really reading. A few words were marked and she noted them. Not that she needed too; Tsunade already knew.

"Sakura," she turned the paper over and continued on the next one, "was it?" The female across her nodded her head, and Tsunade pretended not to see it. She was reading after all, the least the girl could do was use her voice when someone wasn't looking at her. Tsunade was looking, she was an expert at noticing things in her peripheral vision, but she wasn't going to acknowledge the girl that easily. She wasn't nicknamed the toughest chick for nothing. Oh no. If the girl was going to work for her, she was going to be stronger then just a bob of her head. The girl wasn't an inmate, after all.

Shizune elbowed the girl in her ribs, and the pinkett spoke up. "Yes. Haruno Sakura is my name."

"You were here when we stitched up Hinata." She still wasn't looking at her. The girl stiffened in her seat by the mention of the name, and only then would Tsunade look up at her; but just a quick glance. Her eyes were hard, and her mouth was a streak. She was trying her best to hide it behind a mask of blankness, but that didn't work on the elder nurse. She could see through all of it, every time. Shizune elbowed the girl again and gave her a look.

"Yes, I was." Good girl, Tsunade thought. Her voice was soft, yet strong as metal. She had strong self control, but The nurse wasn't done with her quite yet.

"Have you read her file?"

"I," her voice quivered slightly and she cleared her throat before continuing, "I have, Tsunade-sama."

"And?" She was drawing it out, suppressing a smirk. She folded her hands in front of her mouth, and stared the girl down. The next answer was her final test. The girl had been an all A student straight from the academy, proven excellent with the patients at this hospital, and she always acted professional. It was her first week as an intern, and she had passed with flying grades. The only thing left was to take a deep psychological analysis of her. Tsunade couldn't have anyone unstable working in the hospital. She couldn't do a thing about the guards, they were Jiraya's work, but she could do exactly what she wanted with her staff. Drive them through the tests she found necessary to figure out if they were able to work here.

She only recruited the elite of the elite; nothing less. Failure wasn't an option, not with these patients. One slip, and it could be catastrophic. The girl had done an marvelous job; a better one than she had expected. She had been given Pein the first day, and the girl had taken it like a walk in the park. He sexual harassed her under the whole exam, but Tsunade had given him permission in secret. She wanted to see how far she could bend this green eyed girl before she snapped. She hadn't. Sakura had examined the patient, told him she didn't like the way he had talked and acted, and never once raised her voice. The girl had been so collected and calm it made Tsunade almost proud of picking her out for testing.

None of the interns were allowed to read the files before examining a patience, for the comfort of getting to know them before being able to judge them for what they had done in the past. The first meeting was always crucial, and Tsunade took that very serious. When Kisame was for turn, she hadn't batted an eye at his looks. She had done her job, like last time, and been in charge. Whatever Tsunade had thrown at her, the girl had handled with great care, precession and perfection. She was only twenty, but she had more talent than Tsunade herself.

The girl was almost made for the job, except when it came to Hinata. Normal routine was to let the interns know the patients for at least a month before telling them what they were dealing with. The blond built the hospital based on the trust of her inmates. She needed the inmates to feel safe; it provided less riots and a calmer society. It made the work seem like a playground. This was Sakura's ultimate test; Hinata. Tsunade wanted to know what would happen if the girl knew what she was dealing with.

Hinata was suppose to come in for a medical check the day she had broken out of her cell. Fortunately for her, Lee had been on duty. The other guards were too lazy from time to time, and she didn't feel like going out in the field and fetch one of her run-aways back. Lee and Tenten were one of the only people who took their job as security guards seriously. The others merely saw it as a job; a source of money.

Sakura had received her file the day before, and it hadn't looked good for the girl when she had came to work. Her hands had been shaking, her face was pale white, and she constantly licked her lips as her eyes darted from corner to corner. Tsunade had almost given up on her, until they had brought the bluette into her clinic. It had been chaos. Guards with broken noses, bitten off fingers and bruised bodies were falling in her door, and given them a lot to work with the upcoming hours. It was the longest hours in a while; the bottle had been too far away from her grasp.

The pink haired girl had worked like a charm. It was as if she went into a working mode; went from one to the next, fixing, stitching, bandaging, given reassuring words and a pat on the back with a wish of a smooth recovery. She hadn't even hesitated to start the surgery on the Hyuuga's hands. One look over the other parts of her body, and she knew what to start with first. Had had left Tsunade mildly impressed. The medical work had gone smoothly, and the only thing left to test, what the psyche of this girl. She had to be able to keep a strong mind to work there.

"She is a very disturbed, little girl." A wave of emotions flashed before her eyes; one of them were sorrow. Good, compassion and sympathetic. Sakura told them what Hinata had been diagnosed with, and it was a long list.

"It is not what I want to hear," Tsunade said, giving her one chance. She had started off good, but was taking the wrong tracks. A confused look crossed her face. "Can you work with Hyuuga Hinata, despite knowing what she has done? She's not the sickest one in here, and far from the most innocent looking." Tsunade drew a deep breath and continued before the pinkette could answer.

"Sakura. It is crucial that you can work with these people, these humans, without holding their past against them, or their illness. This is not a game where you test out what is working and what method makes them healthiest in YOUR," the pointed a finger almost in the girls eye, "opinion. They have to be healthy to themselves and the world. These people need to be able to work just like you and me, with a purpose, and not be a ticking bomb. We are here to help them. Can you do that?"

The girl started to nod her head, but Tsunade turned away. Words meant nothing. The only thing that could convince her, were actions. "Stare outside the window." A finger pointed where Tsunade wanted the girl to go, and a questionable look crossed her face before but she did as told.

The nurse didn't have to follow, she already knew what was down there. It was the courtyard the inmates were allowed to use now and then. She was trying to push it up to every third day instead of every fifth, but that craved more people; resources they didn't have.

"It's the yard," The intern told her, and Tsunade nodded, turning around in her chair. The light from outside was too strong. Her headache wasn't getting any better. Not by a long shot.

"What do you see?" Sakura wasn't dumb. She knew what Tsunade wanted to hear, and that was exactly what she was going to give her. The best thing was; she didn't have to lie.

"I see inmates. They are playing around, just like everyone else would. They are being humans; normal."

"And don't you ever forget that," Tsunade quickly whirled around in her chair, pinning the girl with her glare. "They are humans, Sakura. They deserve better than what they got right now." So many people had abandoned them, but she was not going to. She was giving everything she had to help these people.

"Yes, ma'am."


Deidara was laughing as Hidan was having another fit of anger. The boy was testing his faith as he had slammed the basketball in the back of the albinos head when he hadn't been looking. Three guards were currently trying to pull the murderous man apart from the hysterical one, and their attempts of calming them down wasn't working. Only a threat of being sent to the shoe made the man calm himself down, and Hidan showed away from them while cursing the boy. He didn't falter at the death promises. Nobody seemed concerned; it was a normal discussion between the two of them, that never became real danger.

Hinata was kicking a ball to Sasori and Kisame. Itachi had joined them after a few moments of watching, and decided to interfere when Sasori was becoming too personal. Sasori was mostly doing the talking, and Hinata responded the way he wanted her to. He asked leading questions, so it was easy to answer.

Itachi was observing the girl; she seemed to enjoy moving around, even if it was kicking a softball and it made her very tired. A slight darkness filled his gaze before he drove it away. Not here. Not now. Later. But not too late; it would be soon, but later soon.

"Hi-inata," a voice called from behind her, end she kicked the ball to Kisame. When she turned around, she spotted the brown haired girl she longed for. "Tenten," she whispered and gave her a smile shy; holding back the urges to jump on the the girl and embrace her in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry I wasn't at work this morning or yesterday, but you know, I can't live here. Sleep is very important to me," the girl scratched the back of her neck, and the movement reminded her of something. An old memory that wanted to, but couldn't, surface. She slightly wrinkled her eyebrows, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come up.

"T-t-that's a-a-alright. I-i-i u-u-understand." A ball came flying toward Tenten, and Hinata saw it it in her peripheral vision. Her body reacted before she could think, and the second later she was lying on the ground, trying to clutch the side of her swollen head. Her bandaged hands stopped her from trying to sooth out the pain, but she fainted before she could do anything else than stir.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Tenten screamed at her fellow guard. He was giving her a blank stare beside the risen eyebrows. She was angry beyond words, but the girl knew to control herself. One scene and she was out of this place. She couldn't do that.

"What ever do you mean?" the man asked, examining his fingernails. He looked at the perfect nails, unlike her short and bitten ones, and avoided her glare. A smirk was playing at the corner of his mouth, but it wasn't visible to anyone but her.

"You know exactly what I mean, Orochimaru!" the pale man looked up at her before lowering his hand. His long hair was tied in a sloppy, low ponytail. His yellow eyes bore into hers, and the brunette felt like she was falling. The ground was slipping under her feet, and she let out a long, far scream. It was so dark, so cold, she shivered and gripped herself. As the ticklish feeling of falling left her stomach, her knees hit the cold pavement. Tenten hugged her shoulders as she shuttered under her superiors staring, glowing eyes.

"Know your place, girl."

"Orochimaru-sama!" a girl with red hair called out. Her uniform was white, and Tenten knew the girl. She had just been placed inside here; for what, she didn't know. Tenten didn't want to know what the inmates had done before ending up there. She worked better in ignorance.

He gave her a cold shoulder, but the girl stayed in her place, waiting for the man to calm down. He did, with a sigh, and left them there. Tenten couldn't stop him; she could just follow him with her eyes, and loath him. He was the worst of them all. The man had been screwing with her since she entered this place, no matter what it was.

Torturing the other patients, making her crawl on her knees with his twisted stare and sexual harassing her with his sick comments. The brunette had tried to file a report on him, but somehow Tsunade always ignored them. She had told the girl to be brave and live through it, but it was becoming so hard. The ball bad been aimed at her face, but Hinata had taken the fall for her. The worst part was her helplessness; she was powerless against him, and could only watch what came next and try to make the best of it.

"Hinata?" Daidara said in a concerned voice, while Hidan was yelling at him to shut up. She rolled her eyes and sighed at them. Those two would always fight, no matter what they did. Deidara would be loud about everything and nothing, and the albino would complain about him complaining. It was a show most of the time, she enjoyed watching them have their little lovers quarrel, but it could get very tiring at times.

"Will the both of you just shut up?" Tenten screamed at them, and both guys jumped away from the fainted girl. Tenten didn't feel any remorse for making them jump. She was very tired, and wanted her shift to be over. Luckily for the guys, Tenten didn't become a murder and them a victim, as Lee came up to them.

"Are you all right, Tenten-san?" He asked in his ever so calm and gentle tone. It made her relax her tight back muscles, and lower her gaze to the girl. Oh god, Hinata! She looked awful, bruised and beaten, filled with bandages and strips. "W-what happened?" she gaped at the girl. Surely, the football couldn't have done so much damage?

"Hinata-san tried to-" Lee stopped himself as he caught Hidan and Deidara listening. They were both pretending to look the other way, and he blushed at his almost outburst. They weren't allowed to tell the inmates about other inmates, and he had almost broken that rule.

"We need to get Hinata-san to the nurse's office." He picked her up in his arms, and was surprised at how light she was. Tenten pushed him forward, told him she had to stay in the yard and watch over the others. Hidan and Deidara started to ask questions in each others mouth, and Lee heard Tenten scream orders at them as he left it. He smiled softly. The female guard was known for being friendly, but strict, and physical training always helped when the mind was disturbed.

Lee ran all the way to Tsunade. He was afraid the fragile girl had taken one blow too many. What if she didn't wake up? It would be all his fault. He had been the one to tackle her the first time, and catch her. He was the reason she was still here. It was an unsettling thought. Maybe letting her go had been a better faith then returning her here. This girl was much too delicate for this place.

"Tsunade-sama!" He yelled as he stormed through her door, and meet green eyes. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes upon. Her pink hair was just a bow her shoulders, and it suited her. She had a strong attitude and gave him a calm look. She was very serious.

"What happened?" she stormed to them and glanced down at the girl. She was taken from his arms, and he watched as the pinkette laid the other girl down on her working bench, starting her work even before he had answered.

"She took a ball to the head,"

"Head injury," the girl muttered to herself, and opened the unconcious girls eyelids, shone her flashlight at her pupils, moving it fast away, then doing it again. She did this several times, before letting go of her tool.

"Doesn't look like anything serious. I'll run a few more tests to make sure she's okey." He nodded at her, and received a scowl. "Why are you still in here? Get back to work!"

"Yes, ma'am, straight away!" He saluted before storming away. Bloody hell, the girl was pretty as any sunset, but just as scary as the old lady Tsunade.


5 different people gave review on one chapter? This deserves to be celebrated with a quick update! Woohoo! Or.. A semi quick one, no? Been stuck on 4K words for a day now.. Blah..

Hinata-Hime-Starz: Thanks for the faithful reviews, it keeps me very much happy! I'm glad my story helps you in any kind of way. If you want to know what comes next, you just have to keep reading, hehe.

Sabie0521: I'm going to tell you straight a head that the brown haired guard who Hinata hates a lot is Asuma. He has his reason! And it's a good one, sort of.. maybe..But thanks so much for the review! I love reading them!

Though Chick: Thanks for the review, hehe! Who are you voting for? Who should win Hinata's heart?

Silent Knight: Thanks for the review. It made me very happy to see that someone who's not on a profile also takes their time to comment on my story. Thanks for that. I will try to look out for the grammar and those spelling error! They tend to hide and thus become a great nemesis of mine! But no promise. And thanks again for those encouraging words! Hope to see you again

Chotsu: Thank you so much for taking your time to give me a comeback! You have no idea how happy that makes me, regardless of grammar. I'm happy to know you like my fanfic, so you don't have to ever apology to me. My grammar is far from perfect, hehe. And thank you for the vote! It is nice to know what people want out of this; it makes it easier for me to write. I will be looking forward to your return, whenever that is, even if just as a silent reader!

Thanks for following this story Lost-puppyEYES, Sabie0521x Jormungandr1994 andshadowshades ! And thanks to all the silent readers! Every single one of you is making my day! And don't forget, YOU are awesome. Thanks Jormungandr1994 for adding this as one of your favorites!

Over 150 views in two days!? WOAW, I'm so super happy for everyone who gave this story some of their time! Thank you guys!

Now everyone, who are you voting for? Who shall win Hinata's heart? And who will break it? Can it be broken if it already is broken? Is it broken? You'll just have to read to find out!